Photo by Gerry Milnes

2002 NEA National Heritage Fellow Ralph Blizard Blountville, TN Old-time fiddler

The area near the border of northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia has historically produced many fine string band musicians, earning it a reputation as the "birthplace of country music." Ralph Blizard was born in this musically fertile region in 1918. By the time he was 14, he was playing fiddle with his group, The Southern Ramblers, on an early morning radio show on WOPI, known as the "Voice of Appalachia." For the next 23 years, except for an interlude during World War II for military service, Blizard played on radio shows, at schoolhouse concerts and on variety shows. He then gave up music to raise a family and to pursue a career with Eastman Kodak. After retiring in 1980, he took up the fiddle again and began performing around the country for diverse audiences including Tlingit Indians at the Alaska Folk Festival, elderly nuns and retirees at a New York rest home, classical music aficionados at a concert with the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra, and a national audience of millions on Good Morning America. In addition, he has spent time teaching younger people his unique East Tennessee-style of long-bow fiddling, often associated with the legendary Arthur Smith.

 
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NEA Heritage Fellows
1982-2012: 
BY YEAR | ALPHA